9-10 day Munich/Salzburg/Rhine trip

Day 5: You are spending 5-6 hours to reach Rothenburg and spending 3 nights in a town that is way too touristy - and that makes day trips more difficult because of its location. You could instead be in the Romantic Road town of Würzburg in less than 4 hours.

Days 6, 7: Spend those nights in W'burg instead. W'burg is a nice town with some good stuff AND a good train hub for outings. Less than one hour to Bamberg, a great day trip. The art/wine town of Iphofen (site in German but see photos!) is 25 min. Rothenburg is about one hour away.

Day 8: Your train trip to Stuttgart is shortened by about 30 minutes now that you're using Würzburg as a base. And the trains are direct - from Rothenburg you'd have to ride 3 different trains.

The only "misadventure" I see is the trip to Stuttgart. Würzburg is only 70 minutes by direct train from Frankfurt. Instead of Stuttgart I would stay an extra night in Würzburg and do another day trip. Other options for day trips include Nuremberg and Bad Windsheim's open air museum.

You say you like science museums, yet you don't mention seeing the big one in Munich.
I would cut a day from Rothenburg and add it to Salzburg. For a daytrip there, my choice would be the ice cave at Werfen. A second choice would be the salt mine in Hallein.
In Rothenburg, stay within the town walls if possible. Their town website is excellent with lists of accommodations.

These are both excellent suggestions! After looking at train schedules, Russ, you are right, I didn't notice the multiple train switches to get to/from Rothenburg ODT. I hadn't considered Würzburg but it is a lot more convenient for public transportation! I thought Rothenburg looked so cute, but I have read a lot of reviews about it being very touristy. I think I could satisfy my curiosity with a day trip.

I added another night in Munich for the science museum there and another night in Salzburg. I'm really interested in this ice cave! I wanted to go to the Mer de Glace, but it was just too far. The rest of the nights I've switched to Würzburg and will do day trips to Stuttgart and Rothenburg. So 3 nights in Munich, 3 nights in Salzburg, and 3 nights in Würzburg. Any hotel suggestions in Würzburg that are in walking distance with the train?

Thank you! You guys are life savers.

Do you recommend any of the Viator day tours or should I just plan/schedule it myself? I'm willing to pay a bit more for convenience but I didn't know if they were worth it.

Viator sells other peoples tours, they have none of their own. Which town are you looking for a tour? In Munich, try Radius tours or if you want an outstanding private tour, try Dark History Tours with Taff Simon.

Near Stuttgart, you have the beautiful town of Esslingen, chock full of those cute half-timbered buildings like Rothenburg. Near Munich you have Regensburg, also gorgeous and with lots of Roman stuff and the Thurn & Taxis palace and one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have seen in Germany. Both of those towns would be a priority for me over Würzburg, even though I like Würzburg a lot.

We got on one of those bus tours that takes you to Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, so you can do both.

We also did the Eagles Nest, partly for the history and partly to make sure we got up in the Alps. It was definitely interesting. With the clear weather it was a good thing to see.

I'm so glad you are staying in Wurzburg! I stayed there last December and fell in love with the town. Check out the Hotel Alter Kranen - it's a great hotel. It's right on the river and around a 10-15 minute easy walk from the train station. Request a room with a river and fortress view - it's spectacular!

I stayed in Wurzburg four nights and took day trips to Rothenburg and Bamberg. It worked out perfectly using the Bayern Ticket.

If you go to the Residenz in Wurzburg, go for the English guided tour, no extra cost and you get to see more of the palace. Also a hike up to the Marienberg Fortress will reward you with amazing views of the city. On your way back, stop at the little kiosk on the bridge for a wonderful glass of wine.

Oh, this is making me want to go back!!! Have a great time!!

Is there a reason you're going to Salzburg and essentially planning to immediately do things out of town (like Eagle's Nest)? Unless you've been to Salzburg before, there are things to see and do in Salzburg. It's more quiet, laid back exploring but you can fill a day just visiting places around town & surrounding environs.

"I stayed in Wurzburg four nights and took day trips to Rothenburg and Bamberg. It worked out perfectly using the Bayern Ticket."
Below is an info. link for the Bayern (Bavaria) Ticket Dawn mentions. It's valid to the destinations I mentioned above and throughout Bavaria on the local and regional trains. Buy it at the station on the day of travel:
http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm

Map of coverage:
http://www.bayerwald-ticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Streckennetz_Bayern_2012.pdf

One thing to note about the Eagle's Nest - according to their website they are open until "the middle of October". Not knowing the exact dates you'll be travelling, and what they consider "middle of October", the Eagle's Nest may be closed when you are there.

We stayed at the H+ in Salzburg, near the train station. It was great and a great breakfast was included.
Go to old town, up the funicular to the castle, we actually saw a Mozart concert there, it was so romantically surreal, also the Augustiner Braustubl is a must if you like beer, good food and an awesome setting.
I think 1 day night in RODT would be plenty, we spent 1 day/night here and found it to be enough.
I would also recommend Dinkelsbühl which is similar to RODT but not as touristy.

Day 6: Day/Night in Rothenburg -- any neat day trips from here?
Day 7: Day/Night in Rothenburg

You might consider staying in Nürnberg instead and doing Rothenburg as a day trip (with a cheap VGN ticket). There is way more to do in N. than in Rothenburg. From Nürnberg both Bamberg and Würzburg are in reach within one hour or less.

Day 1: 7 am arrival in Munich. I want to take this day easy because of the long flight. I thought we could do a walking tour and maybe visit the Paulaner brewery. Any light suggestions would be appreciated. I already have a hotel booked here.

Unfortunately there are no Paulaner brewery tours and the restaurant and beergarden is closed for renovations until Feb 2018. If you let us know your hotel in Munich I'm sure the forum here can recommend alternatives for your first day.

DJ

marathonpc:
Thanks for the Salzburg tips, we still have nothing planned there so I will add that to the list ! We are in the holiday inn there now. I used a travel agent for half of the trip to book flights and hotels. Otherwise I would stay at H+, it looks nice!

Instead of RODT we are staying near Rüdesheim am Rhein now. I've got day trips planned out of there, I liked Russ' suggestions.

Sla019:
Instead of Nürnberg we are doing Wurzburg, we found a nice place to stay near the train station and will maybe take day trips to Rothenburg OTR and possibly hit the Ludwigsburg pumpkin festival! Thanks for the tip though, if I hadn't finally settled on a hotel yesterday after much stress I'd look into it :)

DJ:
"Unfortunately there are no Paulaner brewery tours and the restaurant and beergarden is closed for renovations until Feb 2018."
Nooooo. My husband will be so sad! We are staying near the Deutches Museum on the east side of the river in Munich and then also near München Hbf due to some hotel booking issues! Any great restaurant suggestions? My husband has already done hofbrauhaus...anywhere I can get a really dark beer??

Thanks!

You might want to replace the Paulaner with the Augustiner Bräustuben, the ones at the Brewery itself (Landsberger Strasse 19) not the Augustiner Keller popular on this forum. Nothing wrong with the latter but not the "real" brewery inn experience (after all, it's basically a beer garden); if you want to compare, they are only 10 minutes apart. Just cross the rail tracks over the Hackerbrücke.

if you want a brewery tour go to Weihenstephan in Freising, oldest Brewery in Germany..I mean the world apparently, we stayed in Freising also and it is a marvellous spot.

I am currently finished with my trip and for anyone curious, here was the final itinerary we used:

Day 1 Saturday: 7 am arrival in Munich. My husband got sick on the flight so we definitely took it easy. We eventually got out and saw the Deutsches museum! Well, I looked at the exhibits and my husband rested on benches a lot. It was an amazing museum, full of everything you could imagine! We ended up going to Paulaner for dinner, just to the restaurant not to the brewery. It was delicious! We stayed at Holiday Inn City Center, included in a package with our flight booked by a travel agent.
Day 2: I booked a day trip to see both Neuschwanstein and Linderhof. We used Get Your Guide and it was $130 for both of us and didn't include the €24 to get inside each castle. We paid that too. It was a 10 hour tour, def with the money! Second night at Holiday Inn!
Day 3: Did a free walking tour of Munich. We ate lunch and had to move hotels across town to Tryp. Didn't care for the area, but we walked to Augustiner Keller for dinner and then went to bed early.
Day 4: Got up early and headed to Herrenchiemsee. Had to get off at Prien, walk to the docks, and then ferry across the lake. It was beautiful and I think my favorite palace of all of them! After the day there, we made our way to Salzburg. We used a regional Bayern pass for this day on the train to save some money. We stayed at another Holiday Inn in Salzburg.
Day 5: This day I signed us up for another day tour. This time of the Eagles Nest and the salt mine nearby. It was stopped a bit in Berchtesgaden, too, which was beautiful! The weather was excellent this day. (Actually everyday was sunny and 65-70 F!) I used Gray Line tours and it was about $100. It was an 8 hour tour but one of my favorites of the trip! The salt mine tour was all in German,but we had a short audio tour in English. It was a bit weird but we had a great time! Stayed again in Salzburg.
Day 6: We walked downtown and enjoyed a giant fresh market. We made our way to the old town and just shopped around. We went up to the fortress, which was amazing. We bought soldier helmets from the gift shop for €39 each. A ridiculous purchase but it will an excellent Christmas present for my brother. Enjoyed just relaxing and checking out the old town most of the day and stayed at the holiday inn again.
Day 7: This was a long travel day from Salzburg to Würzburg. It took us 3 trains to get there. We had a lot of delays as well and weren't able to each for a while. Tip: always take snacks! We stayed at Hotel Maritim in Würzburg. It was a really nice hotel but we were at the end of the hall and the internet connection was terrible.
Day 8: Morning train to Rothenburg on der Tauber, took about 2 hours. It was a cute town but not really worth going to after Salzburg. I enjoyed old Salzburg a lot better, but it was still cool to visit and something to do. We went to the criminal museum and just went in the shops. Climbed up the tower and walked around the wall. Stayed in Würzburg again.
Day 9: Day trip to Ludwigsburg for the pumpkin festival. I really enjoyed this day, the festival was awesome and had the most pumpkin foods and drinks I have ever seen. There were giant pumpkin sculptures and the gardens of the palace it was at were beautiful. All the flowers were still in bloom and we got a bit lost in a weird German fairytale village. I would've liked to see the inside of the palace, but hubby was tired so we made our way back to Würzburg. We walked around the old city and ate dinner at a quaint winery cottage in the middle of a bridge. The trip from Ludwigsburg to Würzburg was only 1 hr.
Day 10: Morning train to Frankfurt to pick up dad. Our train was late so my hubby had to run to catch his train to Essen for work! Met up with dad ok, luckily we picked a meeting spot beforehand!

Thanks so much for all of your tips. Especially Russ who helped me out excessively!!

Thanks for sharing how things turned out. Glad you enjoyed your trip.